Maigret (TV Series) Maigret et les plaisirs de la nuit (1992) User Reviews

Pleasures of the Night

[orebaugh · 8/10 · 18 February 2007]

Exotic dancer Lili warns the police that a countess is going to be murdered -- but she doesn't know which one. She is herself murdered after leaving the police station. This leaves Maigret with two problems: who killed Lili, and is there really a countess in danger?

Maigret glides through the Parisian night life without letting it touch him. The same cannot be said for his young assistant, Inspector LaPointe. Nor even for the people who have to live that life. Maigret investigates Lili's death because it is his duty; LaPointe's motivation is more personal and emotional. It's Maigret's tactics that bring out the truth, though LaPointe's passions help a lot at a critical moment.

The broadcast I saw was entitled "Maigret in Monmartre" after the Paris district where the action takes place.

The better one

[bob998 · 8/10 · 26 May 2018]

Now that I have seen Rowan Atkinson's version of this story, I can say that Bruno Cremer does a much better job of playing Maigret as he tries to unravel a very tangled knot of plot lines. It isn't so much that the English actors are less authentic in their performances, it's that the mystery and suspense are handled so much better in the older version. Only the Grasshopper, the man who acts as tout for the strip club has a more vivid presence. If you can manage to find this episode, Marina Golovine as Lili, the murdered stripper has a show stopping few minutes at the police station as she--very drunk--tries to give a statement to a very bored cop.

Atmospheric Maigret -- but how accurate is it?

[Tony-Holmes · 7/10 · 26 January 2023]

Saw this on Talking Pictures channel (UK - old films and TV) who are now showing this early-90s French version (inc sub-titles), after they had been running all 4 of the original Maigret series (BBC, early 60s).

THIS French version gets quite a bit of praise, I see, as being "more realistic". Reviewer Bob considers the French actor (Cremer) as being "better than Rowan Atkinson".

Well, let's get to 'realistic' in a minute. On the latter point, well, most Maigret fans would consider Atkinson the least of the 3 British versions (Davies & Gambon the preceding ones) as though Atkinson does his best, the version he wanted to show - or perhaps was directed to do - just doesn't match up. His Maigret is a rather glum, taciturn chap, and he doesn't have the physical bulk - to replicate the Simenon description - of the others. Nor does RA show any of the little jokes and quips of Maigret, AND - his films are quite long, a very slow pace that frankly gets the viewer becalmed at times.

THIS French version, well, it's different again. Cremer IS a big burly Maigret, and plods about, slowly & thoughtfully. I didn't find the subtitles a distraction (they're quite a large font size!), and the direction seems fine. Prague (I gather) doubles very well for the locations too.

THE QUIBBLE I would have is that THIS Maigret does so much on his own - if trusty aide Lucas was in it, I blinked and missed him! - and that is just NOT real to the books. At this first sight, the acting and presentation are fine, but I have doubts about 'realistic', as this chap is at the Atkinson end of the 'glum, taciturn' spectrum, and I'm not sure they've got the team aspects right? This first episode (that I've seen as yet) doesn't help on the 'realistic' front, as the ending has been grossly changed from the book! I can't see any good reason for this, they weren't saving time for sure, but I'll know more after a few more episodes.

she came from . . . the world of the night

[garywhalen · 7/10 · 15 August 2023]

The Bruno Cremer "Maigret" series is exceptional and reminds me of those great British books-to-television mystery series from the 80s/90s such as Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, David Suchet's Hercule Poirot, and (my favorite) John Thaw's Inspector Morse. What I enjoy most about the Cremer series is how well it captures the atmosphere--from bars and bistros and apartments and mansions to the wet pavement of the streets to the peripheral noises to the varied dialogue to the quiet moments--that the author George Simenon brings to his books (both his "Maigret" titles and his other novels--I've read them all). One doesn't read Simenon's Maigret mysteries simply for setup, epiphanous moment, and denouement. I would say the same is true of watching this series. Getting to and finding out "Who did it?" matters, yes, but only a bit. The best parts are the lingering moments in between.

One wise decision made in developing this Maigret series is that all episodes are set in the late 40s through the 50s. Simenon's Maigret novels span across several decades (30s - early 70s) and the change in ages, fashions, cars, and architecture would have been a challenge. And of course, there would have been the war years and the German occupation of Paris.

"Maigret at Montmartre" is based on Simenon's Maigret at Picratt's, a story of the murder of a cabaret dancer. Throughout the film the scenes and conversations provide us, the viewers, various glimpses--windows from varied angles--into the world in which this dancer moved and lived her life. The show follows the book quite well UNTIL the end and that ending prompts me to give this a 7/10 (though I wanted to score it higher as up until the end I was thoroughly enjoying it). I accept that books-to-film/TV often prompts a change in some of the plot, a condensing of conversations, and a cut of some of the characters. (Name one film that sticks to the book exactly. It's not easy to think of one.) Here, though, (SPOILER ALERT!!) the killer is different from the book. And I can imagine and even understand the script writer looking at the book and thinking "I can do better . . . This ending doesn't work," but for me that's one change from book to film that can't be overlooked. (Oh, and I can't resist: One reviewer asks repeatedly "Where is Lucas?" Well, he is barely, and I mean barely, in the book upon which this episode is based, so his not being in this episode is OK.)

My first french version of a great detective.....

[mch2469 · 7/10 · 26 January 2023]

I just watched this on TPTV website...... I have seen most of the English versions of Maigret, Rupert Davies, Michael Gambon, Richard Harris and Rowan Atkinson ...... I rate those in that order.....!

I think there is one with Charles Laughton, but I haven't seen it.

This version is my first from France.... and it was nothing like I expected..... all the 'detecting' traits I know of Maigret were not there and to be honest I didn't even think it felt French let alone Parisian.... there was no Dumas, or the usual grunt work from LaPointe and Torrance which I think is a very big part of what Maigret does and how he works in solving the clues that he sees and we are shown....

Overall I felt that Rupert Davies and Michael Gambon versions were more Parisian and evoking of that time period in Paris and especially in Montmatre....

This particular episode didn't even feel like a detective story..... I got no sense of Maigret and his workings generally let alone in respect of this particular story line....

Please don't misunderstand me, this is a decent episode but held against the other versions I mention maybe barring the Rowan Atkinson ones, it seems to lose the 'magic' of Maigret and the characters could be from any 'generic' same period detective show....

I was surprised at the ending, this was not the same killer that I watched in those other versions of the same story line..... I am not sure which is more accurate to the book itself but certainly the character who is the killer here is not the same character from the other English versions I have seen..... so that was completely unexpected, I also remember several more integral characters hovering around the story in the Davies and Gambon versions who weren't in this version of the story.

If you enjoy a decent period detective film to watch then I would recommend this regardless of the main character, if you enjoy the Maigret series then this is certainly a different take on the character and story if you're used to the English versions..... the subtitles don't detract from watching the film or encroach on the experience so please don't be put off by that in deciding to watch or not.